THE residents of Helensburgh were fortunate to escape more or less unscathed from the aerial bombardment in 1940-41, although there were anti-aircraft gun sites on the Blackhill above the town, and at Cardross and Kilcreggan, co-operating with nearby searchlight batteries.

Andrew Jeffrey in his book “This Time of Crisis”, published by Mainstream Publishing Ltd., records that the burgh was on the route of the first German bomber to drop bombs on the West of Scotland, four falling on Mull, near Salen and Torosay, at midnight on Tuesday July 11 1940.